{"id":23888,"date":"2020-11-19T13:54:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T18:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=23888"},"modified":"2020-11-19T13:54:24","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T18:54:24","slug":"prevailing-wage-rule-win-us-workers-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/11\/19\/prevailing-wage-rule-win-us-workers-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Rule Strikes a Blow for U.S. Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Trump administration\u2019s Department of Labor<\/a> (DOL) has implemented new prevailing wage rules that both political parties should get behind \u2013 but probably won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking aim at a system that has crassly commodified H-1B visa workers<\/a> while displacing qualified Americans, DOL determined that its prevailing (mandatory minimum) wage classifications were severely undervalued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, pay scales for four tiers of H-1B employment \u2013 \u201centry level,\u201d \u201cqualified,\u201d \u201cexperienced\u201d and \u201cfully competent\u201d \u2013 were set at 17, 34, 50 and 67 percent of the prevailing wage rates. Noting that most H-1B workers are in the first tier, the Center for Immigration Studies<\/a> (CIS) called this \u201ca screaming bargain for employers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new\nlevels are 45, 62, 75 and 95 percent of the prevailing wage ranges, meaning\nsubstantial salary increases for H-1B workers hired through outsourcing shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes<\/a> estimated that the change will boost wages of software developers hired through the H-1B program by up to 48 percent, depending on where they work. Overall, CIS figures a large portion of the 600,000 H-1B workers in this country would see collective pay increases of some $23 billion<\/a> over 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone is rejoicing. According to critics<\/a>, DOL’s methodology inflates the prevailing wage and will pinch U.S. employers, especially nonprofits, universities, hospitals, start-ups and small businesses. Litigation is expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naysayers\nfurther warn that the rule will push businesses to relocate overseas. In other\nwords: Better to take advantage of foreign servitors here, regardless of the\ntoll they take on American workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nimmigration lobby, free marketeers and the politicians they bankroll are\nwelcome to such arguments. But it\u2019s a hard and disingenuous proposition to\njustify outdated prevailing wage scales in the defense of bottom-feeding\nemployers and their foreign labor procurers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As FAIR<\/a> noted recently, \u201cThe big picture argument against the alphabet soup of guest worker programs (H-1B, H-2B, H-2A, etc.) is that they are essentially a cheap labor subsidy to business resulting in stagnant wages or outright job losses for American workers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By bringing wage scales into better alignment, DOL<\/a> is taking a much-needed step to \u201cmore effectively ensure that the employment of immigrant and nonimmigrant workers \u2026 does not adversely affect the wages and job opportunities of U.S. workers.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration\u2019s Department of Labor (DOL) has implemented new prevailing wage rules that both political parties should get behind \u2013 but probably won\u2019t. Taking aim at a system that has crassly commodified H-1B visa workers while displacing qualified Americans, DOL determined that its prevailing (mandatory minimum) wage classifications were severely undervalued. Previously, pay scales<\/p>\n

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